Beetles continue their rampage

Are you sick of the Japanese Beetles yet? I've noticed a real upsurge in their numbers this week, both in my garden and with calls in the office.This weekend's hot weather is sure to bring more out since they actually like to feed in really hot weather. Roses, Purpleleaf Plums, Ash, Grapes, you name it, they are everywhere.

I tried my best as a Master Gardener and proponent of Integrated Pest Management to go the least toxic route first. I went out in the morning with my jar of soapy water and knocked them all off my 'Knockout' rose, but by afternoon, they were back in bigger numbers than ever.

After a couple days the morning jar routine got old , so I decided to try a plant based pesticide containing Neem, but they just laughed that off. So I thought I'd go a little stronger and got out the carbaryl (often sold as Sevin) and thought that would really do the trick. Its pretty toxic to bees, so I hate to use it, but its always been a good beetle killer before.

Well, maybe it was all the rain, maybe a little pesticide resistance, but by the next day the beetles were back, and there wasn't a single rosebud left uneaten. Wherever I looked, clusters of little beetle orgies were going on all over my plant. I'd had enough!

So I went into the back of my garden chemical cabinet, like a crazed UN inspector on a mission for WBD's (that's Weapons of Beetle Destruction), and there it was, the big gun, a bottle of acephate. Acephate is one of those pretty nasty systemic insecticides that is soon to come off the market, so I hardly ever use it. The beauty of systemics is they get taken up by the whole plant, don't wash off easily and hang around for quite awhile. Of course, for all those reasons, you can't use it on food crops, but for roses it's fine. And it's labeled for Japanese beetles, so off I went.

This morning, I checked, and not a single beetle in sight. Let's see how long it works.

Have you tried anything that works well? If so, I'd like to hear about it. I talked to an arborist the other night that said he's had luck with malathion containing pesticides. One of my Master Gardeners tells me she feeds them to her chickens, and they literally can't get enough of them. So I guess, it you were thinking about chickens, its one option.

Current Comments

If I ask a garden store clerkfor Acephate ( out of 10 would not know what I eas talking about. Why not call it by its trade name Orthene.

Posted By: Pete Hale | Jul 19, 2006 3:44:41 PM

If I ask a garden store clerkfor Acephate ( 9 out of 10 would not know what I was talking about. Why not call it by its trade name Orthene.

Posted By: Pete Hale | Jul 19, 2006 3:48:57 PM

Hi, Pete, good question. As Master Gardeners, we are not supposed to recommend specific brand names. Calling it Orthene would be like saying, go out and buy an Ortho product. There's nothing wrong with Ortho products, but we wouldn't recommend them over any other company.
Also, as products come and go off the market, pesticide companies sometimes change the chemical formulation, but keep the same brand name for consumer recognition. So there may be a time very soon that Orthene won't have acephate in it.

Posted By: sue | Jul 19, 2006 4:43:00 PM

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about this blog

Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by Penn State Extension Horticulture Educators. Once they complete their training, they cooperate with service agencies and community groups on a wide range of gardening projects. Their talents and energies are directed toward providing a link between their community and Penn State Cooperative Extension and Outreach.